John Laverty safely dealt with the treacherous conditions to finish 18th on his comeback to the British Superbike Championship. The Northern Irishman has missed eight months of action following a serious crash at Oulton Park last year and was delighted to be back in the mix, even if it was in pouring rain.
“It definitely feels good to get that one out of the way and it wasn't a bad race for me,” he said. “I just wanted to get a full race distance to get some good data and look to which areas we need to work on. It felt nice being back out there and I think we have learnt a lot from the race. It would've been nice to have a second stab of it, but safety always comes first and I think the decision to postpone the second race was absolutely the correct one.”
Teammate Florian Marino saw his first ever BSB race cut short after a crash at the very first corner. The Frenchman went down at Paddock Hill bend but remained happy after showing good pace through free practice and qualifying.
“I am okay, it was one of those things I guess. I was upset that my first race ended like this but I am happy with my start and I think it could have been a good race for me had I not had this collision.”
Splitlath Redmond Racing co-owner Derek Redmond described the weekend as successful for his team and feels confident that they can progress at Thruxton.
“It's been an interesting opening round, and I think everyone has done a brilliant job. It's a new team, the riders are new and everyone is working incredibly hard to make it work. Florian was unlucky but he'll bounce back stronger – he was desperate to make amends in the second race. John was brilliant. He rode sensibly and kept a cool head when a lot of others crashed out. We're all happy with how the whole team has performed. Bring on Round Two!”